Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is confident Cabinet can come to an agreement on whether to recognise Palestine as a state, despite a wide-range of views.
Speaking at his post-Cabinet press conference, Luxon called it a complex issue that has "very strongly held" and "legitimate" views on all sides.
He added there was "no role for Hamas in any future Palestinian state".
"We are seeing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We are seeing Hamas hold hostages that should be released. We are seeing no evidence of a ceasefire emerging, at this point of time... What we really need to see is a stop to the suffering that is happening," Luxon said.
"... What Israel is doing we think is wrong. It certainly aggravates the humanitarian situation and their plans and proposals risk violating international law. It's entirely appropriate that we take the time to actually make sure we weigh up our decision and work that through in a sensible way."
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed New Zealand will make a decision on whether to recognise Palestine as a state over the next month.
Peters will travel to the UN Leader's Meeting in at the General Assembly in New York in late September, and will present the government's approach to the UN at that time.
It follows multiple other western countries signalling they intended to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Australia announced on Monday it would move to recognise a state of Palestine at the next United Nations General Assembly next month, with a condition that terror group Hamas play no role in its future governance.
Luxon, who started the press conference by talking about his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the weekend, said while he has spoken to Albanese, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron on their positions, New Zealand would come to its own decision.
"Everyone is coming at it with slightly different approaches and that's why it is complex and difficult. We have to work through our own view on that and weigh up our own position," Luxon said.
"But we will make our own decision based off our own values."
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